Published On 18/10/2025
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Last update: 11:23 (Mecca time)
Gaza- The Israeli war raised the number of orphaned children in the Gaza Strip to 57,000, after 40,000 children lost one or both of their parents, and some of them remained alone among all their family members, as a result of the aggression in which the occupation forces used all types of weapons over the course of two full years.
Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Social Development in Gaza, Dr. Riyad Al-Bitar, said that the number of orphans before the war was 17,000, but the numbers of this fragile group doubled twice over the course of the war of extermination launched by Israel on the Gaza Strip.
The Ministry of Social Development began working on a strategic plan to deal with orphans under the title of comprehensive care, which includes economic, social and psychological needs and care homes.
Orphan care
Al-Bitar explained in an interview with Al Jazeera Net that the Gaza Strip now needs at least 5 care homes for orphans, with urgent guarantees for orphans and the families who care for them.
He pointed out that the Ministry of Development provides technical support to institutions through an integrated computerized system, through which it provides a unified database from several sources, including the civil registry, and a link to update the data announced by the Ministry, so that citizens can update their personal data in terms of place of residence or displacement, contact numbers, and other social data.
According to Al-Bitar, the Ministry of Social Development also provides information about the services that citizens receive, with the aim of reducing duplication of service provision between partners, and striving to achieve equality in providing services to the residents of the Gaza Strip.
The Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Social Development stressed their communication with institutions, whether international, regional or local, in the context of seeking to unify efforts and work through the national relief system, which includes a unified database, taking into account the privacy of institutions and the standards and requirements of funders.
The Ministry of Social Development faces a challenge in its attempt to unify relief and development work efforts, in light of the ambiguity of the political situation in the Gaza Strip, and the tendency toward independence among some institutions or their employees, which hinders the move towards greater coordination. “Despite this, good progress has been achieved with everyone, reaching a state of integration between all parties,” says Al-Bitar.
Poverty increasing
The Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Social Development points out that all Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been greatly affected by the state of poverty and the cessation of economic life, and everyone needs to feel reassured about their rights in the services provided by institutions working in the field of relief and aid.
Tens of thousands of Palestinian families in the Gaza Strip, classified under the category of “extreme poverty,” were receiving cash aid, but it was not regular, and many months passed and they did not receive the aid that was financed through the World Bank, the European Union, and the Palestinian National Authority, and then they were crushed by the war that prevented the disbursement of this aid.
Al-Bitar stressed the necessity of returning the unconditional cash transfer program and expanding it to include larger numbers commensurate with the nature of the difficult circumstances left by the war on a broader category of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
He stressed that poverty in the Gaza Strip has become comprehensive poverty, and it has become difficult to determine who is the poorest, in light of the state of comprehensive devastation that has befallen economic, social and security life, as society has lost its sources of income, and is still exposed to famine and impoverishment policies practiced by the occupation against society, which has caused the poverty rate to exceed 95% in the Gaza Strip.
A lost childhood
The Ministry of Social Development attaches importance to caring for children, the groups most affected by the genocidal war, which lost them their fathers and mothers, their right to education and family stability, increased violence towards them, and they suffered from premature employment.
Al-Bitar says, “Children are now waking up to a daily schedule, not to join school or drink a glass of milk, but to line up in lines to fill water, try to get food from the hospices, search for firewood for cooking, and live in the tent that does not accommodate any social distancing.”
Explaining that it is expected that domestic violence, deviance, and conflict with the law will increase, “and we are facing a difficult reality for children,” he said.
He pointed out that the occupation destroyed care homes for children, bombed the Al-Rabie Foundation in Gaza City designated for their rehabilitation, and damaged the Child Protection Center in the city of Deir Al-Balah, the Al-Amal Institute for Orphan Care, Al-Rahma House, and the “SOS” Children’s Village in Rafah, and destroyed nurseries and kindergartens, schools, parks, and children’s amusement parks.
Protection of women
Women in Gaza bore the greatest burden during the war on the Gaza Strip, after they lost their husbands, children, families, and homes. They were forced to be displaced more than once in harsh conditions, and live in tents that do not protect against the heat of summer or the cold of winter, and the lack of social privacy. They were exposed to economic pressure, unprecedented levels of poverty, and the absence of health care.
The Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Social Development believes that all these circumstances made women exposed to domestic violence. However, the occupation forces destroyed the only Safety House center in the Gaza Strip dedicated to protecting women. The Ministry is currently working to provide an alternative center, as Al-Bitar called on institutions to intervene in order to rebuild the center as quickly as possible.
He pointed out that despite the harsh conditions that the Ministry of Social Development was going through, the destruction of care facilities and community services caused by the war, and the martyrdom of a number of employees, it did not stop working, and worked to distribute aid, protect women and children, and provide shelters for them, and adopted a national computerized system, and other services in order to support and strengthen the steadfastness of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.